Sure, he knew logging was illegal. "But the
problem is that Bolivia is a very poor country."
No one tried to stop them. In fact, he said, the
park guards occasionally visited the camp. And
no, he wasn't afraid that his mahogany would
be confiscated in Rurrenabaque. "In Bolivia
one can pay someone to make illegal things
possible." He said his crew had paid off the
head of the guards 45 days ago. He shrugged
mournfully, as if he regretted a state of affairs
that tolerated rogues like him. "I'm an ecol
ogist," he added. "I'm just taking out one load
of mahogany, and then I'm finished forever."
THE TOWNSPEOPLE of San lose de
Uchupiamonas had longer term plans.
With financial and administrative help
from Conservation International, a
group that promotes biological diver
sity and environmentally sound enterprises
in native communities, they were building
Chalalin Ecolodge. The villagers had done all
the construction and gradually would assume
full ownership as they learned the business of
tourism. Profits from the lodge, which opened
in June 1998, would go to community projects.
Conservation International had drawn at
tention to the Madidi area in 1991, starting the
process that led to the park's creation. A team
of Conservation International scientists visited
Madidi and reported a "diversity of flora and
fauna that rivals the richest known sites on the
globe." They urged immediate protection. At
first the Bolivian government planned a small
park of 125,000 acres, but Munn, Ruiz, and
others pushed for more land. The government
eventually enlarged the park to 4.7 million
acres, making it the central piece of a huge
protected area that connects Ulla Ulla reserve
on the southwest, indigenous territories on the
east, and Peru's Tambopata-Candamo reserve
on the west-about 20,000 square miles.
Ruiz had a happy homecoming at Caqui
ahuara, where Eco Bolivia maintains a rustic
research and security station. About a dozen
Tacana Indians live in thatch-roofed houses
here. They had almost finished building a
small lodge for tourists on the other side of